New Zealand/Australia, Day 14–16: Crossing the Tasman Sea

Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day

Fiordland National Park cruising day…but rainy and cold with almost no visibility. Slept in, breakfast buffet, got some throat lozenges because I could feel a cold coming on – probably the same one Dad had been fighting throughout the trip. Went to morning trivia and checked out the ship’s Valentine’s Day decorations…which were INSANE.

Hung out on the sun deck, had the Indian buffet for lunch and saw the guy who looked a lot like Grandpa again. Went to afternoon tea! Afterwards the rain finally let up and we could see the fjords we were cruising through. But of course, the only one we got to see was Milford Sound, which we’d already toured.

Mom and Dad played some ping pong then at dinner, Aunt Linnea and Dad threw down a ping pong challenge! Mom gave our waiter some chocolate for Valentine’s Day and to make it extra special, put it down her shirt first! He thought it was hilarious and was very thankful :)

Feb. 15

Got up early and ran around the top deck and went to exercise class. Captain’s Circle meeting, vegetable-carving demonstration, ship-wide ping pong tournament. Went to tea with Mom, saw the ‘Piano Man’ stage show, watched ‘the Time Traveler’s Wife’ in the main theater, and saw Jack Wilks’ comedy show after dinner.

Feb. 16

Slept in – didn’t feel well. Dad brought me breakfast and I stayed in bed and watched ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’. Mom brought me soup and then I went up and watched Dad and Aunt Linnea battle it out over ping pong. I did my puzzles outside for awhile and worked on my tan. After dinner, watched ‘the Proposal’ in bed and ate way too many cakes and cookies.